Grow Like The Pros | Chelsea Chop

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Really interesting to see this done in pots because we can really see where the cut is. Have always been rather nervous of Chelsea chopping, so very helpful.

[@trishferrer8209]

Best explanation/demo of this term that is new to me. 😊

[@bobbiechinn9578]

I thought it was taking off the top 3rd lol you took almost all but hey makes it bushy 💚💚💚 funny how people will do the chelsea chop then later in the season complain about the "overgrowth" and spread. 😅

[@shirleywilson5959]

Thank you, that was very easy to follow, first time I've seen the Chelsea thin shown too!

[@p.h.c.1113]

Same here! Will try that on my Phlox this year.

[@oliviaglass3843]

This info is so useful - I knew about the Chelsea chop - but there is more than one way to do it 😅 thanks !

[@hilshils3426]

I know you can’t do this to delphiniums (see comment below from ‘Only me’) but it would be great if there was a list of those to NEVER chop, those to thin, & those you can do the full chop to? Though I am a bit scared to do the whole chop (except Nepeta 6 Hills!) but I may be braver now! Thank you Rosie.

[@DottyGran247]

I’m always nervous of doing this and wonder are there any perennial plants that we should NEVER do this to. Love your videos, thanks for your time, especially appreciated as I’m sure you’ll be very busy right now 👍

[@DottyGran247]

@@RosyHardyGardening thank you - only just got notified of your reply, just a KZbin glitch I think

[@TMBgarden]

I have a middle to large size cat garden with lots and lots of Nepeta cataria plants that I let them grow from seed by them self their first two years, what happened was that they got so tall like the Alcea rosea spikes in height and when the autumnal heavy rain and wind hited them it collapsed and fall to the ground. So I had a lot work staking and cleaning up all the damage branches. So the next year by intuitive I gave it a Chelsea chop and also a Chelsea thin and later on the new growth were sturdy and middle tall and sheltered by the first pruned old growth. I didn't even knew that it was a garden technique and also was my first time growing catnip and now I learned all those things. Amazing! I just gone forward doing that because I thought tha "if nepeta is related to mint family, if I cut them back it will regrow again and luckily I won't lose the plant and voila! Thank you, my garden are 4years old now and thanks to your videos about preparing plants for winter/spring I have a explosion of Gauras, Bush salvias, lavenders, they perform gorgeous between my ornamental grasses and coneflowers, people come every summer to take photos and they ask me how I have no woody plants and I talk about you!

[@wildlifegardener-tracey6206]

Always wondered how and when to perform this. Thank you.

[@nicolasbertin8552]

There is a bit of a misunderstanding about the Chelsea chop... It is NOT required in normal growing conditions. Why do most brits have to do it ? Because they mostly use the same techniques of feeding their soil every year with manure, compost or fertilizer. This is what creates that issue, that flopping over, combined with the pretty reliable rain you're getting in summer (or the watering you give). You are NOT supposed to feed perennials, unless your soil is bad and you're using rich soil plants, maybe like eupatorium for example. But most perennials, like this helianthus, will flop over if you enrich your soil every year. And yes, you would get the same effect with wood chips. The solution is to look at your soil and pick plants adapted for your soil. Helianthus just likes a normal soil, ideally quite moist in summer. I have clay soil, but I only feed it on my veggie patches. In my perennials patches, I try to keep it to a minimum, just enough to get me started. And my helanthius so far only grow about 1m20. In France we have dry summers, so they will not reach the usual 2 meter. But even the tall perennials I have don't flop over, ever. The only one that does, is a euphorbia that was planted too close to a veggie patch. As a result, it's ginormous (about 160 cm), and does flop over. In any case, you do not need a Chelsea chop on plants growing in the ideal conditions for them. And for a LOT of perennials, that is a poor to normal soil. Once I made the mistake of adding compost and wood chips to a previously pretty barren patch of the garden, only poppies grew here. I decompacted the soil, compost and wood chips, and planted echinops, veronicastrum, delphinium... The veronicastrum is slow to grow, so it's not a concern yet. The delphinium grew massive, flowered, and now doesn't come back. The echinops grew enormous, unusual leaves, way too quickly, and almost snuffed out everything around it. I simply should have stopped at the wood chips, and should have omitted the compost. And it's not new knowledge, in books about perennials you read clearly that if you overfeed it will flop over. It will also attract slugs in the case of hostas or eryngium for example. And finally, it will reduce the lifespan of your perennials. A classic case is with echinaceas. Try them on a soil that's full of compost or manure, you'll see them for 2-3 years max. Calm down on the feeding, you'll get them to 4-5 years. So why bother feeding if it only create issues ? Well, people want flowers NOW, and want the plant to reach maximum size the same year of planting or the year after... So they go overboard...

[@monikabarry6509]

Very helpful, thank you!!

[@Thelmageddon]

My leucanthemum vulgare seem to always fall over in the rain - I thought with the cold slowing their growth this spring I might be ok, but no! I'm going to try this next year, but a bit earlier - they are already flowering by the end of May.

[@jonasbotsinka8947]

hi Rosy iam first time gardener here andi bump into yoour video. The lemon queen as i read before it says. To prunen feb-march, is that mean to Chelsea cut again in late May?,, sorry i am confused to which one is right

[@thegonzalezs4953]

Can I root those new growth cut offs , I don’t know if they will take or not .

[@LittleJordanFarm]

🙌

[@Flower_hoarder]

🪴✂️🪴✂️🪴✂️🪴

[@charlottem6876]

Too much off in my humble opinion🤷‍♀️

[@lecitroen]

Rosy has won over 20 medals at the RHS Chelsea show, so she has the knowledge and credentials to back up her advice. And has an acclaimed nursery to boot. You can choose to do your own thing though. Scroll on by, as they say on the internet.

[@sjay6668]

Chelsea chop = Hardy hack 😂